28 April 2022
RCEM’s Annual Scientific Conference is a highlight of the year for many of our members, and a lot of work goes into its planning.
However, the dates of this year’s Conference fall over the holiest day of the year in Judaism, Yom Kippur, on 4-5 October.
We should have known this and considered it as part of our planning, but we did not.
We are deeply sorry; we got this wrong.
This was a genuine planning oversight, and we are grateful to our members who have bought it to our attention.
However, the honesty of the mistake will be of little comfort to those affected and unfortunately, we cannot now change the dates of the event, meaning that a number of our members will not be able to attend. This is the opposite of our aim of inclusivity, and we apologise to those affected.
We will learn from this and do better with future events. We are actively reviewing our event planning processes with our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee to help us to avoid dates of religious significance and ensure our events are accommodating of all.
Emergency Medicine is a diverse specialty, and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine is proud to represent members from all walks of life. As a College we continue to work hard to become ever more inclusive, but we know there is still work and learning to be done, as exemplified by this mistake.
We offer our sincere apologies to our Jewish colleagues.
Gordon Miles
Chief Executive
Royal College of Emergency Medicine
